1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to E-Commerce, and more specifically, to apparatuses, systems, and methods for distributing data.
2. Description of Related Art
Doing business on the World Wide Web (“Web”) has become increasingly popular and is one of the fastest growing uses of the Internet, which is a collection of numerous individual networks. Each network cooperates with other networks to direct Internet traffic so that information can pass among them. The protocols used on the Internet are the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and the Internet Protocol (IP, which are frequently referred to as TCPIIP. TCP breaks down and reassembles packets of information, whereas IP ensures that the packets are sent to the right destination or network.
The Web generally operates on a client/server model; that is, a user (e.g., a client) runs a piece of software on his/her personal computer to use the resources of a host (e.g., a server computer). The host allows many different users to access its resources at the same time and need not be dedicated to providing resources to a single user. In this model, the client software—e.g., a browser—runs on the user's computer, which contacts a Web server and requests information or resources. The Web server locates and then sends the information or resources to the browser, which displays the results on the user's computer by interpreting the received Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) document.
The addressee reference information on the Web is known as the Uniform Resource Locator (URL). A user's browser sends the URL using the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), which defines the way the browser and the Web server communicate with each other. When the server finds the requested document, it sends the document back to the user's browser. The information is then presented to the user via the user's computer. In effect, the user requests the services of the host, which may involve searching for information and sending it back to the user by querying a database on the Web, delivering requested Web pages, or doing business on-line.